


Hold On

by twilight_shades



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Guilt, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Leonard Snart Is Good at Compartmentalization, M/M, Making Out, Sexual Assault by Proxy, false imprisonment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 02:29:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12949344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilight_shades/pseuds/twilight_shades
Summary: A meta-human compels Barry to do things contrary to his nature.  Snart fixes things, in his own way.





	Hold On

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Do not own. Complete fiction.

Barry wakes up on the floor in the medical area at STAR Labs. He sits up and he feels so woozy he almost lies back down again. After getting some water and a lot of calories into him, he starts to feel better, but he can’t help but wonder where Cisco and Caitlin are. They’re not always here, true, but it sometimes feels like they are. He doesn’t remember anything from the last nine hours or so. He remembers fighting the new meta and then it’s a blank, so probably the meta had something to do with it and it would be nice to find out what. He looks around curiously and it looks like both Cisco and Caitlin were in the middle of different things, but it looks like they’ve been abandoned for a while. That does not bode well. Barry sweeps through the facility. He finds Cisco and Caitlin in the pipeline. They have questions for him that Barry doesn’t have the answers to.

“What happened?” Caitlin asks.

“Is there another speedster?” Cisco asks.

“What? Why?” Barry asks, eyes darting around.

“You stopped responding and then we found ourselves sped into those cells, but whoever it was snuck up on us, so we didn’t even see a streak,” Cisco says.

“I have no idea. I woke up on the floor and I got dizzy when I stood up. I don’t remember anything after starting to fight that meta,” Barry says.

“You got dizzy and you don’t remember anything?” Caitlin asks, frowning.

“I think I just hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in a while because I immediately felt better after getting something,” Barry says.

“I should still check you,” Caitlin says.

Barry sighs and nods and trails after her.

Caitlin has gotten through several tests when Leonard Snart comes stalking in, cold gun out and pointed at Barry.

Barry has no idea why Snart would be pointing his gun at Barry. Barry had thought they were on pretty good terms. Since Snart had gotten back, he even helped Barry out, once. “Snart?” he asks uncertainly.

Snart looks a little nonplussed. “Back in the driver’s seat again then, Scarlet?”

“What?” Barry asks, confused.

“Are you actually in control of your actions now?” Snart asks pointedly.

“Yes? Was I not before?”

“You don’t remember?”

“The last thing I remember before waking up on the floor here less than an hour ago was fighting a meta, like ten hours ago.”

Snart scrutinizes him and then finally lowers the gun and holsters it. He pulls a set of keys out of his pocket and holds them out.

Barry raises his eyebrows.

“Your meta. She’s in the trunk.”

“What?!” comes from Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco, who had come over at some point.

“She’s tied up and gagged. Her thing has something to do with what she says,” Snart says flatly.

Barry looks at Caitlin.

Caitlin takes a couple of sensors off of Barry and says, “Go.”

Barry grabs the keys and flashes away. At slightly slower than superspeed (stupid friction), he gets her squared away for the time being. He flashes back. “She’s in the pipeline.”

Snart frowns.

“Just for now. We’ll figure out how to make sure she can’t hurt anyone and then hand her over to the law,” Barry says.

Snart nods, his expression a little sour.

“So, uh, what happened? What did I do? Oh God, are you okay? Did I ask you to go after her?” Barry asks Snart.

“What is her power?” Caitlin puts in.

“Do you know who locked us away, Snart?” Cisco asks.

Snart looks at Cisco and points to Barry. 

It takes Barry a second to get it. “I locked them up?”

Snart drops his hand and shrugs. “It’s what you said.” He turns to Caitlin. “I’m not sure exactly what her abilities are and I didn’t want to find out. When I asked Barry why he was doing what he was doing, he said she told him to. Maybe something with her voice.” He turns to Barry. “No, you did not send me after her, I did that all on my own after you left.”

Barry looks Snart up and down, trying to see if he’s hurt. “You didn’t answer my other questions. Did I try to hurt you or someone else? Is that why you came in pointing your gun at me? What, what did I do?”

“I’m okay. You…cornered me, kept me there. You clearly weren’t all there mentally. You rambled, but wouldn’t answer most of my questions. And then you left about an hour ago,” Snart says.

“So, I was there the whole time? Keeping you prisoner?” Barry asks.

“Seems so. You wouldn’t let me leave. Or do much of anything, really,” Snart says.

“I am _so_ sorry,” Barry says, feeling terrible.

Snart just shrugs. “Extenuating circumstances.”

“I wonder why,” Barry says.

“Maybe she wanted to keep you busy while she did something and she thought Captain Cold would interfere, so she was killing two birds with one stone,” Cisco suggests.

“But why wouldn’t I just put him in the pipeline with you guys?” Barry asks.

“Yeah, because it’s not like it’s well known how easy he finds it to break in or out of some place if he’s motivated,” Cisco says dryly.

Snart preens a little. 

“He didn’t escape me,” Barry says. 

“I would think The Flash’s undivided attention would make it very difficult to get away, especially if caught unaware,” Caitlin says.

Snart inclines his head. “As you say, Dr. Snow.”

“Mr. Snart, you said Barry didn’t let you do much of anything. He doesn’t seem to have eaten or had anything to drink while he was there, so I’m guessing he didn’t let you either. I could check you over, make sure you’re okay,” Caitlin says tentatively to Snart.

“Thank you for your concern, but no. He didn’t, but after he left I was able to take care of my needs before I went hunting. It’s been a long day and I’m leaving now, because I can,” Snart says. He turns and walks out.

Barry grimaces. Snart will probably hold this against him and Barry can’t really blame him.

~~~

Barry wakes up, heart pounding, shaking. He swallows heavily, then bolts to the bathroom, falling to his knees in front of the toilet and throwing up. It takes a while for his stomach to stop heaving, but eventually it does. He climbs shakily to his feet and flushes the toilet. He goes to the sink and rinses his mouth out with handfuls of water and then shuts the water off. He can’t look at himself in the mirror.

He wanders into the living room. He should do something, should try to make this right, somehow. His phone is in his hand and he’s dialing before he can really think about it.

Snart answers after three rings. “Please tell me the world isn’t ending.”

“What?” Barry asks, really confused.

“It’s 3:22 am, Scarlet, if the world isn’t ending, you’d better have another good reason for calling.”

“I- I- I’m sorry,” bursts from Barry. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“That’s a little excessive for a late… or early call, isn’t it?” Snart dryly responds.

“No, no, I mean yes, I’m sorry for calling so late, I didn’t realize the time, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I, there’s, you, I just wanted to say I’m sorry and that I’ll turn myself in. You can write out everything that happened and I’ll sign it.”

There’s a moment of silence. “I very much doubt the police or any prosecutor are going to be willing to bring charges against either The Flash or Barry Allen for the false imprisonment of Captain Cold.”

“It’s hazy and jumbled, but I remember some of what happened. I held you down, I was on top of you on a bed, you told me to get off. I kissed you, you told me to stop. Did I, did I…?” Barry trails off, unable to even voice it, hoping against hope that since Snart hadn’t killed him when he’d found Barry at STAR Labs after, it hadn’t gotten that far. Barry can’t be sure, though, because Snart has his own code, his own set of ethics and rationales that Barry doesn’t always understand. Sometimes Barry doesn’t just think that Leonard Snart has good in him, but that he’s actually a better man than Barry is. When Snart makes a choice to do something good, not only is it more difficult for him, but it often has bad personal consequences for Snart, which he is aware of beforehand, and yet, he will go ahead and do it. He doesn’t always make that choice, but when he does, Barry knows it costs Snart more than it costs Barry.

“What? No, there was no rape. You just… kept me there.”

“I didn’t _just_ keep you there. I may not have… r-raped you, but I _assaulted_ you. I held you down with my body and I rubbed against you and I kissed you and you were very clear that it wasn’t what you wanted. I sexually assaulted you. You should have me charged. I’ll accept whatever consequences there are from it.”

“Are you crying?”

It’s only after Snart asks the question that Barry becomes aware of the tears on his face and the hitching of his breath. “I’m sorry, this isn’t about me. It was done to you. I’ll stop, I’m sorry.”

Snart sighs over the connection. “Kid, you are allowed to be feel upset. That meta took your control away from you. And as much as they’ve started writing this stuff into law, I very much doubt they have anything on the books that would be sexual assault by proxy via mind control. And that’s what it was. You were just the instrument, not the actor. She’s been caught. By me. And she will be dealt with. That is a satisfactory outcome for me.”

“But, but, it’s not enough, is it? I may have been the weapon, but weapons are dangerous.”

“What are you suggesting, then? Putting you in a gun safe, a Flash safe?”

“I don’t know. Maybe?”

Snart sighs again. “Answer your door, Barry.”

Barry’s confused and about ask what Snart is talking about when he hears someone tapping at his door. He pulls the phone away from his ear and frowns down at it, wondering if Snart could somehow hear that through the phone. He goes to the door and it’s not until he gets to it that he realizes it must be Snart at the door. Barry wipes at his face. He opens the door and Snart is there, leaning against the wall. Barry ends the call on his phone and gestures Snart in. Snart pushes off the wall and slinks into Barry’s place.

“What are you doing here? No, wait, how did you get here so fast?”

“Ah, you caught me, I’m actually an evil speedster. The new one you have to battle.”

Barry huffs out a little laugh, sniffling a little with the remnants of his crying jag. “Really? Where in time are you from? Or is it another Earth?”

“Oh, no, I’m an alien evil speedster.”

“Oh, God, please don’t joke about that, you will jinx us, and I really don’t want to deal with an alien speedster.”

Snart frowns a little. “Point. I was… someplace that is not that far from here when you called.”

Barry wonders if he means a safe house or someplace he was casing. “Okay, but why did you come?”

“I came to show you something.”

“What?”

Snart makes a gesture with his hand indicating himself.

“I don’t understand.”

“Look at me.”

Barry raises his eyebrows, but looks Snart up and down. He’s in black, black pants, black boots, black shirt with a black leather jacket over it. Actually, when he looks closer, the shirt is a very dark blue, not black. And of course his cold gun in its holster, that is somehow unobtrusive, even though it’s a really big gun. Snart looks like he usually does, put together, composed. Cool. Barry smiles a little. He’s not sure what he’s supposed to be seeing. He’s as attractive as he always is. Barry nearly flinches, thinking that. “I don’t- What I am I looking for?”

“Do I look traumatized to you?”

Barry bites his lip. “No, but you’re pretty good at hiding things.”

Snart tilts his head and shrugs a little. “True enough. Look, Scarlet, I’ve had a lot of bad things happen to me and being… aggressively cuddled by you for a few hours just does not rank high on the list, okay?”

“Snart.” Barry grimaces, feeling wrong to think of him like that when Snart calls him Barry (among other things) and seems to be trying to help Barry, but not really sure what else to call him.

“Leonard or Len, if you’d like,” Snart says, apparently reading him effortlessly.

“Okay, um, Len, it doesn’t make me feel any better that this doesn’t rank high on your list. In fact, it sort of makes it worse that you’ve had so much bad stuff happen in your life. You shouldn’t have any more. I don’t want to be anywhere on that list. I don’t want to be a bad thing that’s happened to you.”

Snart, Len, looks like he’s not really sure what to do with that, but he’s quick to regain his self-possession. He smirks. “Barry Allen, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you actually like me.”

Barry rolls his eyes. “Of course I like you. You’re smart and funny and weirdly honorable. Well, in your own way.”

There’s a faint look of surprise on Len’s face, but only for a second before it’s back to slightly amused.  
“Go on.”

Barry snorts. “I like your stupid puns. I like to banter with you. I like that nothing, really nothing, seems to keep you down. I like you, okay, I like- Oh.” Barry remembers that there’s something about that and the meta.

“Oh?”

Barry tries to work through it. “I like you.”

“So you were saying.”

“No, I, the meta, she said… What did she say? Oh.” Barry feels his face go bright red with embarrassment.

“Wow, Scarlet has never been more appropriate. What did she say?”

“She started talking and it was like all I could hear was her voice. She asked me what gets my attention. She said, she said, ‘There’s someone, isn’t there? You should go be with her, no _him_ , stay with him. Yes, keep him there and _show_ him how much you like him.’” Barry remembers what it felt like, now. And how nasty her smile had been. She had known what she was doing. There had been _intent_ in her words, an intent he had felt. Barry feels unclean. He can’t look at Len. The meta didn’t pick Len, _Barry_ did.

“Huh,” Len sounds thoughtful.

“I’m so, so sorry.”

“Okay, let’s not do that again.”

“But-“

“You kissed me, but when I told you to stop, you did. You didn’t let me up, but you were very apologetic about it. You tried very hard not to hurt me while keeping me restrained. Whatever power she had over you, whatever compulsion you were under, you did your best to… care for me while still obeying.”

Barry studies Len, not sure he can just accept that. But Len is the one Barry was used against and while Barry is entitled to his own feelings about being used, Len gets to decide how _he_ feels about it. Something occurs to Barry and he tries to keep the smile off his face.

“What?”

Barry sighs. He is _really bad_ at hiding how he feels. “It’s just, you could have totally used my guilt to manipulate me, but instead you’re helping me, trying to make me feel better. I know you don’t agree and you don’t want to hear it, but I’m going to believe in the goodness you have in you and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

Len scowls at him. Then his eyes narrow and his expression suddenly slides back into a faint smirk. “Well, Barry Allen, now that you’ve got me here, with both of us under our own control, and you’ve confessed your liking, what _are_ you going to do with me?” Len looks at him expectantly.

Barry is completely unprepared for this turn of events. “Uh, I don’t know. Ask you if you want to go on a date?” Barry asks uncertainly.

Len gives him a dubious look. “A date?”

“Um, yeah. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking we could make out, this time with me on top, if you wanted.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Hold on a second,” Barry says. Barry flashes to the bathroom and superspeeds through washing his face and then brushing his teeth and swishing mouthwash, until he’s absolutely sure his mouth is minty fresh. Then he flashes back and lays himself out on the couch.

Leonard raises an eyebrow and smirks at him. “Well, I’ll give you this, when you say a second, you mean a second. But there’s something to be said for taking your time.” He unfastens his holster and places it and his gun on the coffee table, slowly. Then he slips off his jacket and hangs it on the back of a chair. He sits and takes off his boots, leisurely undoing them before pulling them off.

It’s excruciating for Barry how unhurriedly Len’s doing everything, but at the same time, it’s building this amazing sense of anticipation in him. “Are you always like this?” Barry asks plaintively.

“Like what?” Len asks as he saunters over to the couch and looks Barry up and down. Len then sort of slides his way up Barry, until Len’s resting atop Barry, their bodies flush against each other.

“I, uh, what?” Barry cannot remember what he was saying, Len’s eyes have always caught Barry’s attention, but with them so close and looking directly into his own, Barry’s mesmerized.

“Aw, now Scarlet, aren’t you paying attention to me?”

“Always,” Barry breathes.

Len smiles.

It’s a real, honestly happy, smile, not a smirk. And Barry’s weirdly proud of himself for putting it there. He wants to dart up and kiss him, but he waits.

Len takes his time, moving closer bit by bit, his breath warm on Barry’s lips. Finally, he connects, feather-light against Barry’s lips at first, then slowly increasing in intensity.

Barry’s not surprised that Len’s good at this, but he is surprised at how right it feels. Barry always assumed that if anything were to happen between them, it would be in a clash with all kinds of contradictory emotions going into it. But this, this measured, intentional coming together, this deliberate surrendering to their feelings is so much better than he could have imagined. Barry tries to give as good as he gets. He gets a slight noise out of Len (not quite a moan, but maybe adjacent to it) and feels victorious. Then Len does something with his tongue and Barry can’t help the sound he makes (not a whine, totally not a whine). Barry’s not sure how long the kissing goes on, though he knows he feels blissed out by it and by being able to touch and hold any part of Len he can reach. 

Eventually, though, Len pulls back, but he doesn’t pull completely away. Once Barry pulls himself up into a sitting position, Len settles close enough to Barry on the couch that their shoulders rest against each other. Len looks almost as composed as when he got here, but the fact that his lips look a little fuller and his eyes are a little dilated makes Barry smug, even though he’s absolutely sure he himself looks a complete mess. But that also make Barry feel a little smug too. It makes him feel… wanton.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to doing that again,” Len says.

Barry nods enthusiastically, but then tries to tone it down, afraid he might look like a bobble head. “Tomorrow? And maybe a date later this week?” Barry asks hopefully.

Len wrinkles his nose a little. “Not much of a dater.”

“Oh,” Barry says, trying not to let too much of his disappointment show. “Okay.”

“I suppose I could try it. But nothing too… corny.”

Barry smiles widely, elated and amused. He tries to reign in his amusement, wondering what on Earth the prince of puns would consider too corny. “Oh, no, I would never subject you to anything like that.”

“Good, ‘cause I’m a classy guy.”

“Always saying ‘excuse me’ before you rob a place.”

“Exactly.”

Barry laughs and starts planning the cheesiest damn date he can.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you find any typos or if the format is messed up or if you think I need any tags.


End file.
